Arts & Entertainment

Action Hero(ine) Dress Created From Library Books

Dress to be modeled by Kari Evans at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Barefoot in the Park in Duluth.

Need something new to wear and have a lot of old books lying around. Get out the scissors and glue and repurpose those books. Watch the Paper Dress Fashion Show today for ideas.

The Gwinnett County Public Library is hosting the fashion show at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7, on the Main Stage at the Barefoot in the Park Fine Arts Festival on Duluth’s Town Green. 

“I believe every branch has at least one entry,” said Lorena Gay-Griffin, Duluth Library Branch manager. “There are five dresses from the library (system) and two additional dresses in the fashion show.”

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The Duluth Library team created its entry from discarded graphic novels and Manga. Both types of books are popular with teens and young adults, according to Gay-Griffin. Kari Evans from the Five Forks Library Branch will model the dress in the fashion show. 

“The base of the bodice was created by wrapping our model in plaster tape, then letting it dry to her shape,” Gay-Griffin said. “After that, the bodice was covered with Manga pages and punctuated with depictions of female action heroes from graphic novels. The skirt has a sewn cotton skirt underneath with a train made of tulle. The paper ‘shingles’ were then sewn by hand in a graduating color scheme.” 

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The dress is accented with silver lightning flash earrings, bracelets and boot decorations made by team members.

Others involved in constructing the female action hero(ine) dress were Jeanne Mullins of the Norcross Library Branch; Maria Rittenhouse and Michelle Sienkiewicz, Duluth Library Branch; and Stacie Delcambre, Lilburn Library Branch.

Additional Paper Dress Fashion Show entries include a garment made of woven paper, a flapper-style dress with rows of paper beads, and a garden-themed outfit, Gay-Griffin said.

The dresses will be displayed in the Book Bistro sponsored by the GCPL at Barefoot in the Park. After Barefoot in the Park, the dresses will be exhibited in June at The Hudgens Center for the Arts, along with select entries from the library’s Altered Book contest, which was held in honor of Love Your Library Week in April.

Barefoot in the Park, which features an Artists Market, a Children’s Art Park, the Book Bistro, and live entertainment on two stages runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 7, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 8.


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